"Sorted", said one, while the other exclaimed: "Lucky bastard".

The conversation highlighted how a surprisingly large number of people are failing to distinguish between getting a loan at an exorbitant rate of interest and winning a prize with the National Lottery.

You have to pay back the loan, with interest . . . lots more interest now that rates are going up.

Our friend is one of a new breed of Irish debtor, one who boasts about a level of debt that would have horrified, and mortified, his parents or grandparents.

They are the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly generation, Masters of the Universe, who earn lots but spend even more and feel there is nothing they don't deserve. If they can't pay for it now, they'll lash it onto the credit card.

The trouble is that all those "points of Hino", meals at Roly's and shopping splurges on Grafton Street add up to a lot of, loike, spondulicks. And the Old Mon is no longer kindly disposed to bailing out his wayward son or daughter.

They are even more surprised than everyone else when the coq au vins come home to roost and they find their Armani-suited hides hauled in for a firm chat with a bank manager . . . or even a judge.

The latest figures show Ireland's credit balloon continuing to swell by an extraordinary 30% a year. In July, we gorged ourselves on an extra 4.9bn, bringing the national debt total to a record 293.4bn (including business loans).

The annual growth rate in credit card borrowing, which has been steadily rising all year, did fall from 18% in June to 17.1%. However, this is still high and the Central Bank noted that the slight drop could be due to seasonal factors. It could also be due to SSIA and remortgaging money getting pumped into credit card accounts.

"I'm not shocked by the example of the guy getting 50,000 in debt (see panel), " said one debt counsellor. "I have come across other cases."

One couple racked up a similar debt, tried to juggle it among several different credit cards, and ended up separated and impoverished, with several court cases in the pipeline from disgruntled creditors.

"It's a middle-class phenomenon. These people are well-educated, although unfortunately not in managing their finances, which continues to be a neglected area in schools, " he says. "But it is very difficult to sort out your own financial problems. You need an objective view. . . someone to tell them that they can't afford that car."

So what led them to buy these cars in the first place?

"Society has changed. People demand instant gratification even if that means borrowing, " the counsellor says.

There are two sides to the story, however.

"People taking out credit have to be responsible. There should be education in schools to make them aware of the pitfalls. But financial institutions are the ones who have the power to give or decline these problem loans."

Michael Culloty, spokesman for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, stresses that the majority of its clients are on social welfare, or have run into problems, and their plight should not be trivialised.

Many, however, are people who wouldn't normally be associated with financial difficulties but have been lured into debt by easy credit.

"There is a growing number of people in the 18 to 25 age group coming in to us. Credit is very easily available. People are using it to borrow from Peter and pay Paul, " he says.

Culloty welcomes the Financial Regulator's move to restrict banks from automatically increasing credit card limits, although he stressed that there are always ways to get around this.

(One reader told how her internet account flashed up a juicy five-figure sum and asked her to 'click here!' to accept it as her credit limit. ) A spokesman for AIB insists that banks ask customers whether they have other credit cards but they must take answers "at face value. . . We do have checks but we have to trust the applicant". People who supply false or misleading information must take responsibility for their actions, he suggests.

AIB, again like most banks, also checks with the Irish Credit Bureau, which stores data on problem borrowers.

But as a Bank of Ireland spokesman admits, some do "slip through the cracks".

That's because it takes time for difficulties to register, and even then only accounts in serious trouble are referred.

Banks also have different policies as to when problems justify taking a step that not only costs them money, but also raises data protection issues.

"A customer would have to make no effort for five or six months. What's the point in referring someone if they are making regular payments, however small? , " he asks.

The spokesman denies that there are mounting problems with credit card debt.

"Around 52% of people pay off their account in full every month. [Of the rest], the average debt is about a grand and there has been no noticeable increase."

He also insists that banks advertise credit cards as a form of short-term lending and if they are used otherwise, it gets "very messy" for everyone, not just the bank.

However, with tiny minimum repayments, whacking great credit limits, and the fairly easy availability of multiple accounts, it's hardly surprising that some borrowers are using their cards to dig themselves deeply into debt for a very long time indeed.